dj bean

Bruins-Blackhawks preview: Stanley Cup coming back to Boston

After the Bruins made quick work of the last team anyone expected to be swept, folks should be feeling pretty good about their team’s chances against the Blackhawks with the Stanley Cup on the line.

Yet this will be no cakewalk for the Bruins. The Blackhawks are a very, very good team with no real flaws. Well, they can’t score on the power play, but who can?

Undoubtedly, things will get tougher here for the Bruins. They won’t limit Chicago to two goals in a sweep, and you won’t see a handful of star players finish the series with no points. That doesn’t mean they don’t win.

Take this all with a mountain of salt, as I’ve been wrong with every prediction so far: I picked both the Rangers and Penguins to beat the Bruins, with the only series I picked the Bruins being the first round. That’s the round they lost to the Maple Leafs, right?

OFFENSE

The Bruins have the leader in postseason goals and points in David Krejci, and his line has been superb this postseason. If Krejci keeps up his pace and the Bruins manage to win this thing, the Conn Smythe would be a very tough call between him and Tuukka Rask.

Though the Bruins are still awaiting Jaromir Jagr’s first goal of the postseason, that second line with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Jagr has been good. The thing to watch there is Marchand’s penalties, as he crossed the line multiple times against the Penguins and could either hurt somebody or put the Bruins in a tight spot if he isn’t careful.

As far as the bottom six goes, the Bruins have won thus far without Gregory Campbell (winning Game 3 after he went down and then taking Game 4), but he’ll be missed big-time. That fourth line was more offensively productive than the third line. Speaking of the third line, this would be a good time for Tyler Seguin to get going.

The Blackhawks aren’t as deep as the Bruins, but they do boast two very good lines. Joel Quenneville made some in-game adjustments in Game 4 against the Kings that he’s since stuck with, so it’s Jonathan Toews between Bryan Bickell and Patrick Kane, while Michal Handzus is with Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp.

Edge: Blackhawks

DEFENSE

Tomas Vokoun was not the problem for the Penguins against the Bruins, as he generally played well in the series. The problem (beside the whole not scoring thing) was Pittsburgh’s lack of defense. That won’t be the case this time around.

The Blackhawks have three solid defensive pairings, so they’ll be tougher to expose on the back end than the Penguins were. The Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook tandem is a legitimate top pairing, while Johnny Oduya with Niklas Hjalmarsson is nothing to sneeze at, either.

On the Bruins’ end, it’s simply a matter of which line they play the Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg pairing against. You’d have to think Claude Julien would prioritize having them out there against the Toews trio, which would then leave the Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk duo to defend the likes of Hossa.

While the Blackhawks are very good defensively, the Bruins boast the best defenseman (and possibly player) in this matchup in Chara.

Edge: Bruins

GOALIE

After Rask posted mediocre work through two rounds, the Bruins needed him to establish himself as a Conn Smythe candidate if they were going to get past the Penguins. He did that and then some, and now he’s rightfully getting the credit he deserves as one of the elite goalies in the NHL. Don’t sleep on the other guy, though.

Corey Crawford is the only guy with a better goals-against average than Rask this postseason. They also had similar numbers in the regular season, but Rask separated himself by blanking the Penguins twice and allowing just two goals the entire series on 136 shots.

Edge: Bruins

SPECIAL TEAMS

Think of it this way: Even with their 0-for-15 showing in the Eastern Conference finals, the Penguins still had a better success rate on the man advantage (21.3 percent) than the Bruins (15.6). What makes all this more interesting is the fact that the Blackhawks have fared even worse at 13.7 percent. Both the Bruins and Blackhawks have seven power-play goals through two rounds.

Then you factor in that both teams have been superb on the penalty kill this postseason and you realize that power-play goals just might not be a thing in the Stanley Cup finals. Worth noting, though: For all that talk of not needing a power play to win the Cup and pointing to the 2011 Bruins as proof, the Bruins were indeed good on the power play against the Canucks, scoring five goals.

Edge: Even

SERIES

Entering the Eastern Conference finals, it was too easy to get swept up in all the hype of the Penguins. They were the best team on paper and they were winning, so we all got carried away and thought there was no way they could lose.

With the way the Bruins have played, it’s even easier to see them as a sure thing to win the Cup, but keep in mind that the Blackhawks have won seven of their last eight, so they’re just as hot as the B’s are. Plus, they’ve already come back from a 3-1 deficit this postseason. They’re legit.

In the end, you still can’t help but look at how well Claude Julien did with using matchups to quiet the Penguins and think that he’ll be able to do it again vs. another strong offense. Factor in how well Rask is playing and you can understand why there’s so much hype surrounding the Bruins.

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.